Ratatouille Cooks Up Most Annie Nominations

ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for the 35th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year's best animation across film, television, commercials, videogames and short subjects.

In the feature categories, Pixar's RATATOUILLE leads the field this year with 13 nominations including Best Animated Feature, as well as individual nominations for directing, writing, character animation, animated effects (two nominations), production design, storyboarding, character design, character animation, music and voice acting (three nominations). Sony Pictures Animation's SURF'S UP follows with 10 feature nominations for feature, animated effects, animation production artists, character animation (two nominations), character design, and directing.

Rounding out the Best Animated Feature category are DreamWorks Animation's BEE MOVIE, Sony Pictures Classics' PERSEPOLIS and Twentieth Century Fox's THE SIMPSONS MOVIE.

For television, Nickelodeon's EL TIGRE leads the pack with four nominations for Best Animated Television Production for Children, and individual nominations for character animation, character design, and music. The Best Animated Television Production nominees this year are CREATIVE COMFORTS AMERICA from Aardman Animations, JANE AND THE DRAGON from Weta Prods. Ltd. & Nelvana Limited, KIM POSSIBLE from Walt Disney Television Animation, as well as MORAL OREL and ROBOT CHICKEN STAR WARS from ShadowMachine.

Special juried awards honoring lifetime achievement and exceptional contributions to animation will also be awarded:

This year's Winsor McCay Award winners for career contributions to the art of animation, include:

John Canemaker - Animation historian, educator, Oscar winning filmmaker. Canemaker's tomes on Windsor McCay and Felix The Cat, his numerous books on Disney history (The Nine Old Men, Mary Blair, etc.) are esstential references. Canemaker is Chair of NYU's Animation Program and won an Academy Award for his animated short The Moon And The Son: An Imagined Conversation.

Glen Keane - One of the leading lights in the current generation of Disney character animators, Keane's artistry has been the bedrock of many classic animated features since 1977. Most notably, Keane was lead animator of Ariel in THE LITTLE MERMAID, The Beast in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and animated the characters ALADDIN, TARZAN, POCAHONTAS in their respective Disney films. Aside from Disney he's worked on animated films of STAR TREK and ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS.

John Kricfalusi - Notorious animator Kricfalusi created the influential REN & STIMPY SHOW in 1991. He restored an individual look to TV animation, pushing the envelope during the "creator-driven" movement of the 1990s. He also pioneered the use of artist-driven Flash animation. His animated films and design style currently influences a new generation of cartoonists, with which he communicates personally to through his blog.

The June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation was bestowed on animation historian Jerry Beck.

The Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement was given to Jonathan Gay, Gary Grossman and Robert Tatsumi -- the creators of Flash computer software.

Special Achievement Annie Award was awarded to Edward R. Leonard for promoting the Linux open system for animation in animation studios and gaming software development.

The 35th Annual Annie Awards will be held Feb. 8, 2008 at UCLA's Royce Hall, in Los Angeles. The black-tie ceremony will feature a lively mix of animation luminaries, celebrity presenters and comedic talent to celebrate this year's best of the best.

A pre-reception begins at 5:00 pm with the awards ceremony following at 7:00 pm. A post-show celebration immediately follows at the Royce Hall.

More than 1,500 entertainment industry insiders are expected to attend the annual Annie Awards. Tickets will be available to the general public online at www.annieawards.org, after January 1, 2008, space permitting.